The national chairman of the Social Democratic Party, Olu Falae, said on Friday he has resigned from active politics.
He also stepped down as chairman of the party.
His resignation came a day after the endorsement of President Muhammadu Buhari by a faction of the party.
Speaking with journalists in Akure, the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation also distanced himself from the controversial endorsement.
The party’s chapter in Adamawa on Friday also distanced itself from the endorsement.
Adeniran Takes Charge
Mr Falae said he stepped down for a former education minister, Tunde Adeniran, who has become the party’s acting national chairman.
He also said he would no longer be actively involved in politics as a result of his age.
Some members of the SDP National Executive Council on Thursday in Abuja, endorsed President Buhari, abandoning its presidential candidate, Donald Duke.
Mr Falae did not link his resignation to the controversy. Instead, he cited the burden of age as the reason for his stepping aside.
Mr Falae clocked 80 years late last year.
He blamed the crisis in the party on the litigation instituted by a former Minister of Information, Jerry Gana, to challenge the emergence of the former Governor of Cross River State, Mr Duke, as its SDP presidential candidate.
Mr Falae insists he would only support ”a major presidential candidate ready to carry out the restructuring of the country”, the ideology which he alleged the APC and President Buhari do not support.
Mr Falae, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation under the military, was one of the two presidential candidates who contested the 1999 presidential elections. He lost to Olusegun Obasanjo who eventually governed Nigeria between 1999 and 2007.
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